{"id":18923,"date":"2012-05-31T01:50:08","date_gmt":"2012-05-31T06:50:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=18923"},"modified":"2012-06-01T00:23:43","modified_gmt":"2012-06-01T05:23:43","slug":"marvel-universe-two-packs-gambit-vs-mr-sinister-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=18923","title":{"rendered":"Marvel Universe Two-Packs:
Gambit vs Mr. Sinister Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a>As I mentioned in my last Marvel Universe 2pk Review, the space characters and the 90s X-Men are my two weak spots when it comes to resisting Marvel Universe figures. That means, as sure I picked up Thanos & Adam Warlock, I just had to buy Gambit and Mr. Sinister too. <\/p>\n

If you really pressed me as to why I want to build a 90s X-Men team, I don’t really have a good answer. I’ve never read any 90s X-Men comics… in fact, I’m not terribly versed on the X-Men outside of what I’ve seen in the films, cartoons, or on Wikipedia whenever I was curious. Actually, that probably explains it. Cartoons. I know that the opinions of the 90s X-Men<\/em> cartoon will vary wildly based on one person to the next, but I would’ve been 11-12 when it first aired and I thoroughly enjoyed it at the time (as well as the Spider-Man<\/em> cartoon that aired around the same time). <\/p>\n

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As I’ve gotten older and my awareness of the “Jim Lee” X-Men era has grown, that core group of animated X-Men has had their roster (Cyclops, Jean, Wolverine, Rogue, Storm, Beast, Gambit, Jubilee, & Professor X) filled out in my mind with Colossus, Iceman, Archangel, & Psylocke. It’s a team I’ve wanted to build since Marvel Legends started up nearly a decade ago. Marvel Legends got mighty close too, especially towards the end, but they missed a couple, my interest waned, and a lot of those figures didn’t survive the “great ML Purge”\u2122 a few years ago. <\/p>\n

Flash forward to Marvel Universe and my ongoing conflict with collecting the same figures in a new scale. I found myself wanting the same things in a smaller package and I started accumulating the Jim Lee X-Men… again. <\/p>\n

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I didn’t buy Gambit when he was original offered in the Wolverine: Origins<\/em> line a few years back and I’d kinda been waiting on Hasbro to release a proper Gambit in the MU line, when they finally released one in this two-pack, that meant that Mr. Sinister was coming home with me too. <\/p>\n

I have to admit, I wouldn’t normally buy a Mr. Sinister. I had him as a Marvel Legend because I wanted to build the Sentinel and I have him as a Marvel Universe figure for a very similar reason. That said, he’s a pretty fun figure if you can overlook one very important detail. <\/p>\n

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He’s almost entirely Colossus. Now Colossus is a great figure in his own right and that really helps here, but you have to be okay with Mr. Sinister being a big seven-and-a-half foot tall bruiser when playing with your X-Men. I’m not the world’s biggest Sinister fan, so it doesn’t bother me in the slightest, I can just enjoy the nicer aspects of this figure, but I would certainly understand if some Sinister fans view this figure with as much disdain as I have for… say, the Club Infinite Earth’s Rocket Red<\/a>. <\/p>\n

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Sinister does differentiate from Colossus in a few ways. The upper thighs are new to reflect Sinister’s penchant for thigh-high boots, a soft plastic piece over the upper torso is also new for costume accuracy, a soft plastic belt buckle to hide his secret X-men affiliation, the classic Sinister cape, and the head sculpt is all-new as well. The new head looks a little more ‘bodybuilder’ than it should for Sinister, but it definitely fits the overall body (and kinda reminds me of Andreas Katsulas). <\/p>\n

What really makes this figure pop for me, though, is the articulation. Sinister sports ball-joints at the head, shoulders, mid-torso, hips, and ankles; swivels at the biceps, wrists, and thighs, single-hinge elbows, and double-hinge knees. The articulation is great, particularly for this line, and that combined with the sculpt-accurate details borrowed from Colossus help make this figure look sharp even if he’s too big. The sweet metallic blue paint doesn’t hurt either! Continue to Page 2…<\/a><\/p>\n

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Now onto the primary reason I picked up this two-pack: Gambit. I don’t want to be too harsh on the figure because, with a Wolverine: Origin<\/em> base figure, I knew what I was getting, but I’m still a little bit disappointed. <\/p>\n

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First, the good: the sculpt. There’s no real buck use here. Gambit’s W:O<\/em> body features all-new pieces that are character specific and the figure looks great. The coat, jumpsuit, and boots are all nicely done. The trench coat flaring out takes a bit of getting used to in a static pose, but this way works better than if it was simply draped over the figure and blocking the leg articulation. <\/p>\n

The two new pieces, the new head sculpt and the scarf, actually make Gambit less “90s” than the original figure, but this head sculpt is superior to the original so you won’t get any complaints from me. The paint on the figure is pretty sharp other than the face being a little gloopy.<\/p>\n

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Where Gambit completely falls apart for me is the articulation. Again, this is the articulation I knew he was going to have, but I was hoping I’d be able to tolerate it more than I do. There are ball-joints at the head, shoulders, elbows, and hips, the mid-torso joint, thigh swivels, and double-hinged knees. The lack of ankles is always a disappointment this many years into action figure collecting, but the real frustration is the arms. Those ball-jointed shoulders and elbows? Those are great, but that’s all there is. Gambit includes his bo, but it’s a pain to pose him with it because the lack of wrist swivels (or even ball-joints) mean that there’s a very limited amount of poseability where Gambit can hold the bow with both hands. It drives me a little more nuts than I thought it would. If Hasbro could’ve spent a little more here for Gambit to get some better articulation, it would’ve gone a long way. <\/p>\n

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Overall, I’m not as thrilled with this two-pack as I was the Thanos & Adam Warlock<\/a> 2pk. In that pack, Hasbro put some great work into Adam Warlock, made Thanos totally worth buying twice, and included the cool, clip-on Infinity Gauntlet. This 2pk? Not so much. The Mr. Sinister figure is nice, but I can’t completely back it knowing that he’s a decent amount out-of-scale. I do think he’s a lot of fun though. Gambit did get a fantastic new head sculpt, but some problems with the previous figure went unaddressed and I find myself more or less back where I started, wishing I had a great Gambit figure to mix into my MU shelf. <\/p>\n

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For more Marvel Reviews, check out our Review Index<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/center><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As I mentioned in my last Marvel Universe 2pk Review, the space characters and the 90s X-Men are my two weak spots when it comes to resisting Marvel Universe figures. That means, as sure I picked up Thanos & Adam Warlock, I just had to buy Gambit and Mr. Sinister too.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_options":[]},"categories":[26,34,10],"tags":[1543,1545,24,2579,2567,1544,1058],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pObc6-4Vd","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":18854,"url":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=18854","url_meta":{"origin":18923,"position":0},"title":"Marvel Universe Two-Packs: Thanos vs Adam Warlock Review","date":"May 24, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Last night I remembered that I run a toy review website. Between a business trip to Kansas City and a quick jaunt to Texas for the eclipse (and a bunch of work in-between), IAT\u2019s been light on my updates the last two weeks. Let\u2019s fix that with a Marvel Universe\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Marvel Universe"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":11278,"url":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=11278","url_meta":{"origin":18923,"position":1},"title":"Updates to the Marvel Universe Checklist","date":"January 20, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"As promised, we've got a massive update to our Marvel Universe Visual Checklist. It's been revised, updated, expanded, overhauled... I'd go on, but I don't want to have to get out the thesaurus. Suffice to say, it was well past time for Hasbro's Marvel line to get the same treatment\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Marvel"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":17761,"url":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=17761","url_meta":{"origin":18923,"position":2},"title":"Sponsor Announcement: Past Generation Toys","date":"March 29, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"This week @ PastGenerationToys.com DC Direct Batman preOrders We just listed the new statues and busts for the new Batman Dark Knight Rises Movie. Busts and statues are coming for Batman, Catwoman, and Bane! Also listed are the Killer Croc and Mr. Freeze Arkham City Deluxe Action Figures! Star Wars\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sponsors"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":19665,"url":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=19665","url_meta":{"origin":18923,"position":3},"title":"SDCC 2012 Armchair Coverage Marvel, Transformers, & More!","date":"July 17, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Today, Noisy and I are going to take a closer look at some of our favorite non-Mattel lines featured at San Diego Comic-Con. I\u2019ve got some quick write-ups on Transformers, Star Wars, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, while Noisy will explore the Marvel Universe and Marvel Legends offerings! A year\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Event Coverage"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12411,"url":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=12411","url_meta":{"origin":18923,"position":4},"title":"Marvel Universe Checklist Updated","date":"April 25, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Our Marvel Universe Visual Checklist has been updated with the latest news, images, and links. We've added the newest images from Hasbro and a handful of review links to our 2011 page while the Captain America & Thor movie pages have been updated with the latest release information respectively. Continue\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Marvel Universe"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12100,"url":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=12100","url_meta":{"origin":18923,"position":5},"title":"Marvel Universe Reviews Vision & Dark Ms. Marvel","date":"March 22, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"I've only recently started getting into the Marvel Universe line by picking & choosing a few figures here and there. It doesn't seem like there's been much new recently, but Hasbro has been keeping things interesting by refreshing a few older figures with new pieces or new decos, so I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Marvel Universe"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18923"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18923"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18923\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18942,"href":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18923\/revisions\/18942"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18923"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18923"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18923"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}